"I need those O-rings desperately," the voice on the telephone screeched.

This report is about how you educate your workers, your managers, and your executives. Ultimately, it is about learning. But the emphasis here is on practical learning strategies, not "pie-in-the-sky, wouldn't-it-be-nice-to-have" strategies.

This report is about how you educate your workers, your managers, and your executives. Ultimately, it is about learning. But the emphasis here is on practical learning strategies, not "pie-in-the-sky, wouldn't-it-be-nice-to-have" strategies.

How do you educate your workers, managers, and executives? Given the pace of technology change, the assaults on traditional organizational structures (which require all of us to rethink our jobs and what we need to succeed), and the perishability of business models, education is quite a challenge.

How do you educate your workers, managers, and executives? Given the pace of technology change, the assaults on traditional organizational structures (which require all of us to rethink our jobs and what we need to succeed), and the perishability of business models, education is quite a challenge.

This Executive Update is the second in a two-part series containing excerpts from a panel discussion on business-IT alignment (see Executive Update, July 1999, No. 2).

This is the final Executive Update in a three-part series on customer service management (CSM). In previous updates (April 1999, No. 2 and June 1999, No. 1), we discussed how customers were not recognizing "best efforts" support as satisfactory in terms of quality and cost.

Like most of you, I've spent the past couple of years reading about changes that the Internet is causing in businesses.

NCR has released the first product component of its TeraMiner data mining initiative: TeraMiner Stats.

"We've tried numerous virtual-team projects over the past several years," lamented a Fortune 100 company IT project manager at a recent conference workshop. "They all failed."

"We've tried numerous virtual-team projects over the past several years," lamented a Fortune 100 company IT project manager at a recent conference workshop. "They all failed."

Today's state-of-the-art in computer and software security is dismal. The main reason for this is that most companies do not have a deep enough understanding of the serious technical risks that exist to make intelligent decisions about reducing those risks. For the most part, companies simply do not have qualified personnel to aid them in making appropriate decisions.

Many businesses are offering goods and services on the Internet or are making proprietary information available to others. But not all of these companies realize that offering such services on the Internet or any other large network has massive security implications that can dramatically affect their bottom line.

In this Executive Update, Patrick McNeese describes United Wisconsin Services, Inc.'s (UWSI) current distributed computing initiatives and plans for future development. As the parent company for a group of heath insurance companies, including Blue Cross/Blue Shield United of Wisconsin, UWSI is turning to distributed computing to improve customer services, solve Y2000 noncompliancy issues, and comply with proposed guidelines from the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA).

I recently met with Bill Evans and Ronny Kohavi of Blue Martini Software to check out the company's new e-merchandising system for selling goods and services on the Internet. Lots of companies offer e-commerce systems; you might wonder what's so special about Blue Martini.

NCR has released the first product component of its TeraMiner data mining initiative: TeraMiner Stats. TeraMiner represents NCR's overall data mining strategy, which seeks to leverage the inherent parallelism of the company's Teradata database platform by moving data mining processes into the Teradata database itself.

BROADBASE SOFTWARE announced it has filed a statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed IPO. Contact Broadbase at +1 650 614 8300 or www.broadbase.com.

In a few short months, we will make the much-heralded entry into the 21st century. This century transition will be like no other, due to the famed Year 2000 problem. Whether or not some of the more dire Year 2000 predictions come to pass, we can be certain that the post-Year 2000 landscape for the average chief information officer (CIO) will markedly change.

In a few short months, we will make the much-heralded entry into the 21st century. This century transition will be like no other, due to the famed Year 2000 problem. Whether or not some of the more dire Year 2000 predictions come to pass, we can be certain that the post-Year 2000 landscape for the average chief information officer (CIO) will markedly change.

In a few short months, we will make the much-heralded entry into the 21st century. This century transition will be like no other, due to the famed Year 2000 problem. Whether or not some of the more dire Year 2000 predictions come to pass, we can be certain that the post-Year 2000 landscape for the average chief information officer (CIO) will markedly change.

In some areas -- and especially in society and its structure -- basic shifts have already happened. That the new society will be both a nonsocialist and a post-capitalist society is practically certain. And it is certain also that its primary resource will be knowledge. This also means that it will have to be a society of organizations....

Most Year 2000 system failures will be hidden from view. No one will want to air their dirty laundry.